Friday, 23 January 2015

The Apprentice Strikes Again!

As I’m sure many of you know, 2014 saw the airing of the tenth series of the successful BBC show The Apprentice. Here at Jonny’s Sister, we have our own Lord Sugar! Jane loves to take on new apprentices, finding that their ‘youthful’ take on things brings a lot to the table, benefitting all aspects of the company.
(Holding my favourite letter cushion!)

*Drum roll please*

My name is Martha and I am the resident Blogger at Jonny’s Sister. Since the company started in 2005 Jane has taken on five apprentices- me being number five! Since the last apprentice related blog post, Hannah has moved up to London to work for a cosmetic company, Lisa has just completed her apprenticeship, Leanne is nearly there and Shannon has taken on the incredibly demanding role of Office Manager!

Unlike large companies, being an apprentice here is a little different- and far nicer! There is no coffee duty (that’s what we have Alec for- sorry!), no rushing about after the ‘big boss’ and no hiding in the shadows. Having been a part of the JS team for a mere three months, I remember my first day well. I pulled up on the driveway, turned off my engine and sat nervously, waiting for the clock to turn to 10:00... I tapped my fingers, checked my messages and then waited. What on earth was I worrying about? At 9:57 Jane walked out of the cabin and waved frantically at me, encouraging me to come out and get going! My first day was busy, meeting everybody properly and being shown around, followed by a brief introduction to various office tasks. It’s safe to say I went home exhausted.

Fellow Apprentice Leanne, hard at work!
When people ask me what it’s like being an apprentice I would say that it may seem challenging at times, but it’ll be worth it in the end. I am still unsure as to what I would like to do when I finish my apprenticeship, whether I’ll find somewhere new, or I’ll be promoted to Shannon’s deputy- nudge nudge. The beauty of an apprenticeship is that you get to try a bit of everything, so hopefully by the end of it you’ll know what you want to do; I have full faith in this concept hoping that next December I will be certain of which path I would like to take. Speaking of December, Christmas 2014 was a bit of a shock; it was the busiest year since Jonny’s Sister started and we had the largest amount of temporary staff, so it's safe to say that the atmosphere was buzzing! 

Since September I feel as though I have already learnt so much. Jane believes that ‘once you stop learning it’s time to move on’; we are encouraged to work hard and strive to reach our goals and push past our personal boundaries. Going from college to work life, it’s a bit of a shock... The long days and constant push, but I would recommend it to anybody. Get out of your comfort zone and dip your toes into the pool of ‘the grownup world’; not only do you have the support of your mentors, but you are almost certain to have a fab boss like Jane to give you a helping hand!

Tuesday, 6 January 2015

Happy New Year!

We can’t believe it’s that time again- we want to take a moment to say a great big happy new year to everybody and we hope that you all had a fabulous Christmas!

Here at JS we all love the festive season; full shelves, the constant hustle and bustle of people singing ‘jingle bells’ and the chocolates on the office table! Despite the feeling of relief when it’s all over, Christmas 2014 was a good one for everybody. This year we had the most temps to date, we feel like we packed hundreds of ‘BAKED BY KATE’ cake tins, and sold over 1500 Rudolf Christmas sacks- who knew there were that many lucky children in the world!?


To celebrate the success of 2014 we felt that nothing would do the trick better than nibbles and some champers. Here are some pictures to show what we got up to!




 

Although January always brings some relief from the Christmas mania, it is still sad to say goodbye to our Christmas elves and to tidy away the tinsel and baubles for another year. But forget the January blues as during 2015 you will be seeing lots of new and exciting things from Jonny’s Sister….so watch this space!

Monday, 10 November 2014

Spirit of Christmas 2014

Last week Jane and Shannon went up to London to be a part of the Spirit of Christmas Fair at Olympia... and gosh did they enjoy themselves! With Christmassy music playing, the hustle and bustle of those organised shoppers and with a secret stash of Celebrations behind the stand, they came back on Monday and brought the festive spirit with them!

For those of you who haven’t heard of Spirit of Christmas, it is a large fair made up of hundreds of small boutique retailers (such as ourselves) offering original gifts and quirky Christmas ideas to thousands of shoppers. Due to sheer size of Olympia, in our opinion you would need a couple of days to take everything in, but would definitely recommend a trip in 2015!





Like many previous years, this year did not disappoint and we did very well at Spirit; not only did we get a chance to meet other companies alike, but we got the opportunity to sell directly to customers which isn’t something we get to do very often! The weeks coming up to Spirit are always busy, making booklets, finalising new products, getting excited whilst freaking out, but we love it none the less. 

Bring on next year is all we can say!


A message from Jane: 

As always Spirit of Christmas is a great way to meet our customers and to get a feel for what products they like best. Each year we have some tickets to give away as prizes in a competition that we usually run mid October time. Make sure you keep checking your in box for details as it is a great show for visitors as well as exhibitors! 

Tuesday, 21 October 2014

A* Customer Service? We think so!

Here at Jonny’s Sister we believe strongly in the ‘customer comes first’ attitude; no problem is too difficult and no question is too silly!
With Christmas coming (69 days and counting!), our sign writers are rushed off their feet and the office phone won’t stop ringing- bring back the Jingle Bells ringtone! We’re getting orders from all around the globe, and it seems that everybody is getting in the festive mood.
This week we spoke to a lovely lady preparing her Secret Santa who asked us for a little favour... Just call us Santa’s little helpers. As a gesture of goodwill, we are going shopping for her and packing up some classic English biccies to be sent *deep breath* to New Zealand!




Here are some photos of the product- we hope the recipient likes their gift! We think that this is a lovely idea, how about one of our biscuit barrels or cake tins for your Secret Santa this year?

Tuesday, 14 October 2014

Happy National Dessert Day!

Although it seems that every day is a ‘national’ something or other, we felt that National Dessert Day was a fabulous day to celebrate! Here at Jonny’s Sister HQ we have all been shopping (too busy for baking!) and filled the office with treats. Cakes, cookies, tarts and swirls everywhere, it looks like it’s going to be a happy Tuesday for everyone!




Thursday, 2 October 2014

Christmas: 83 days to go

83 days ‘til Christmas. Let the games begin! If we’ve learnt anything over the past 9 years, it’s that Christmas starts in October here at Jonny’s Sister. Although it comes at the same time each year and no matter how much we like to try and prepare ourselves, we’re never ready!








With 20 days and counting, we’re soon to be moving our studio to a new location (blog post on the way- keep your eyes peeled!). At Christmas we have our lovely little handmade gifts coming out of our ears and are sick of the sound of jingle bells by December 1st. But this year we will be ready. Although October has only just begun we have already started preparing; finalising our exclusive Christmas range, mass producing gift cards and gathering the troops!



Here are a few shots from last year- look at poor old postie trying to squeeze those all prezzies in!

Thursday, 3 July 2014

Jonny's Sister Exclusive

With the arrival of this unexpected sunny British weather, comes a burst of new and exclusive Jonny’s Sister products perfect for the summer season.

Why not surprise somebody with a limited edition gift? As summer is the season of bountiful babies, we have come up with a range of portrait silhouettes perfect for showing off your new addition to the clan. We found that by digitally converting images and producing them onto burlap (which is the rattan-like material), when framed they look wonderful.

As well as the silhouettes, we have expanded our fabric family here at Jonny’s Sister adding letter bunting and several cushions- including our new favourite two tone letters. We feel that personalisation is the perfect finishing touch when giving a gift, so with our limited edition range you’ll be truly spoilt for choice.

Although our products will only be available for a short time, if you like them enough then maybe they’ll make a come back in the near future, or even stay for good!





Let us know what you think of our JS exclusives at customerservices@jonnyssister.co.uk